Alternate methods to verify a Places listing?

Question

Alternate methods to verify a Places listing?

Chris D 0

I am trying to verify a Places listing for a client. That said, it's a larger organization with an automated phone system, that doesn't have the ability to accept SMS. The mailed postcard also never came through and there doesn't seem to be a way to request another one. In my experience they never get delivered anyway.

What is the next best course of action to get this verified?

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Answer 1

Francisco Montilla 30,735 Independent Advisor

Hello,

Since the postcard is lost and SMS is not an option, we have to look into the digital alternatives for Bing Places.

Does the client happen to have their website already verified in Bing Webmaster Tools? Alternatively, do you have access to an email inbox that exactly matches the company website domain?

Get back to me on those two things so we can figure out the best path forward without waiting on the mail.

Chris D 0 Reputation points

2026-10-06T18:09:07.96+00:00

Yes, the website is already verified in Bing Webmaster Tools. I don't have direct access to a domain email, but the client obviously does and I can coordinate with them.
Francisco Montilla 30,735 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-10-06T18:14:22.7633333+00:00

That makes things super easy then.

Since the site is already verified in Bing Webmaster Tools, you can get the listing instantly verified. You just need to make sure the Microsoft account you are using for Bing Places has access to that specific Webmaster Tools property.

If your client owns the Webmaster Tools account, have them add your Microsoft account as an admin or user in their Webmaster Tools dashboard. Once your account has that access, log back into Bing Places with that same account and go through the verification steps again. The system will detect the Webmaster Tools connection and approve the listing instantly without needing any postcards or phone calls.

Give that a try and let me know if it goes through.
Chris D 0 Reputation points

2026-10-06T19:00:19.52+00:00

Hmm. I am logged into the webmaster account and can see it says pending verification (but think this is from the postcard that was mailed). will give it a day and see if anything changes.
Francisco Montilla 30,735 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-10-06T22:30:44.7166667+00:00

Just to clarify, are you seeing that pending verification status in the Bing Places dashboard or over in Webmaster Tools?

Waiting a day usually won't change anything if the system is stuck waiting for a postcard PIN. If you click on that pending status in Bing Places, does it strictly ask for the PIN from the mail, or does it give you an option to verify a different way now that the accounts are linked?

Let me know what happens when you click it so we can figure out the next move.
Chris D 0 Reputation points

2026-10-06T22:35:00.32+00:00

I am seeing that pending verification in the Bing Places dashboard. Still not offering other ways to verify when logged into both Webmaster and Places on the same account.
Francisco Montilla 30,735 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-10-06T22:37:08.73+00:00

Usually when it gets stuck like that it means the listing is hard locked into the postcard flow since that was already triggered. Another common reason is the system not linking the accounts because of a URL mismatch.

Before we go the route of deleting the pending listing and starting over, double check the website URL in Bing Places and see if it matches the exact property URL in Webmaster Tools. They have to be completely identical down to the https and www parts. If Webmaster Tools has the secure www version but Places just has the naked domain it will refuse to instantly verify.

Let me know if those match up perfectly.
Chris D 0 Reputation points

2026-10-06T22:40:05.7333333+00:00

Yes, URLs match exactly.
Francisco Montilla 30,735 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-10-07T03:00:10.3866667+00:00

I see. Then, your best bet is to just nuke the pending listing and start fresh.

Go to your Bing Places dashboard and delete the stuck business listing entirely. Once it is gone, do not click the option to add a new business manually. Instead, look for the specific option to import your listings from Bing Webmaster Tools and use that.

Give that a shot and see if it pushes it live.
Chris D 0 Reputation points

2026-10-07T12:49:26.4333333+00:00

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like I have the option to import from Webmasters. I can import from Google Business Profile, Upload bulk template, or add/claim single business
Francisco Montilla 30,735 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-10-07T17:38:53.1+00:00

Yeah my bad on that one, they must have updated the dashboard layout recently.

Just go ahead and use the add or claim single business option. Run through the manual setup for the client again while logged into the exact Microsoft account tied to the Webmaster Tools property. Just make absolutely sure the website URL you enter is the exact same one verified in WMT.

When you reach the final step, Bing does a background check on your account permissions. It should see the WMT verification for that domain and just auto approve the listing instead of kicking you to the postcard screen. Give that a run and see if it catches it this time.